Veg out

A small farm near us has sold its own eggs, honey and the likes for years. They used to grow veg as well and sell it to locals who wanted to avoid the supermarkets.

The problem with the veg though was that a lot of good stuff got thrown away, storage being an issue for the amateur smallholder, so they decided to forget the greens and concentrate on the chickens and bees instead.

But locals were quite keen on buying locally and, as there isn't a single dedicated greengrocer in the whole of Newton-le-willows, Earlestown, Winwick or Burtonwood, they recently asked the farmer if he could help.

So, in the interest of community relations, he started getting up at the crack of dawn every morning, visiting the wholesale market in Liverpool and bringing back a selection of fruit and veg that locals could buy off him.

His reward? The planners have swooped and closed him down. The local community is in uproar.

There is actually somewhere else locally that you can go for your carrots if, like some, avoiding Tesco is an issue for you, but I won't name it here. Those pesky planners have got spies everywhere it seems!

Whoever thought there would be a market for under-the-counter cabbages?